


Two Households

by consoledacup



Category: The Middle
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 16:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13034616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consoledacup/pseuds/consoledacup
Summary: Brief little moments with both families after the kiss heard round the world.





	Two Households

“Hey, so what happened with Sean?” 

“What?” Sue spun sharply around, and her cheeks colored against her will. 

The Hecks were back home from the midnight service, and Frankie was sprawled out on the couch, eating one of Axl’s Christmas Yankee Swap cookies, flipping through her holiday edition of  _People_  magazine. 

Frankie looked up. “Is he okay?” 

Sue fervently nodded. “He’s fine! Just… he, umm… he was dealing with something about school, but it’s all good now.” Sue smiled confidently and put her hands up in an assuring gesture. 

“That’s good,” Frankie said. “Boy, I bet he has a lot on his plate, balancing medical school, friends, Nancy…”

“Mom.”

Frankie raised her hands in defense. “I’m just saying. He told me that once, you know. Well, he didn’t really tell me, but he sorta hinted – you know when you’re trying to tell someone something, but you can’t, so you tell them enough to make them suspicious? It was like that.” 

Sue nodded slowly. “Okay.” 

“Anyway. I’m glad everything’s good. You know I’ve always liked Sean.” Frankie focused back on her magazine. “Of all of Axl’s friends, he’s always been my favorite. Too bad you couldn’t’ve dated him instead of Darrin, am I right?” Frankie chuckled at her own joke.

“Umm… yeah, Mom.” Sue squeaked. “Hilarious!” 

“Mom! Get your own Yankee present!” 

Axl thundered over to the couch, grabbed the tin off the coffee table, and ripped the half-eaten cookie out of Frankie’s hand and stomped away.

“I could’ve if half the group hadn’t bailed on the game!” Frankie called after him. 

Sue yawned. “Well, I am going to hit the hay.” She headed to her bedroom and stopped midway, turning around. “That was a really fun party, Mom.” 

“Really?” Frankie asked, clearly flattered. “It wasn’t too boring with just the Donahues? We could’ve invited Brad or someone for you.” 

Sue grinned, shaking her head. “Trust me. There were  _plenty_  of people for me there.” 

“Well, good. You know, I was getting a little worried when you didn’t want to do those holiday things that you usually insist on doing. I thought maybe Christmas had lost its magic for you.” 

Sue’s grin grew. “Oh, believe me. The magic is far from gone. In fact, this was the best Christmas ever!” 

-

“What happened with you earlier, Sean?” Nancy asked as she prepped the annual Donahue Christmas breakfast casserole for the next day. 

“Huh?” Sean was crouched down, tying the kitchen trash bag with a dazed smile on his face.

“Sean? Why did you leave the party?” Nancy stopped what she was doing and stared at him. 

“Sean. Your mother asked you a question,” Ron said from the living room.

Sean stood up. “What was that? Sorry, Mom.” 

“What’s going on with you?” Nancy asked worriedly. “First, you rudely leave our best friends’ party, and now this?” She gestured toward him in disbelief. “What happened, Sean?” 

Sean hid a smile. 

And then he sighed.

“I… uh, I found out my semester grades.” 

Nancy beamed. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” She walked over to the fridge. “You’re not too old for this. I’ll just move Dotty’s “Character Counts: Kindness” certificate over, and once you print them out–” 

“They weren’t that great.” 

Nancy put the Mickey Mouse magnet back on Dotty’s certificate.

“What do you mean ‘not that great’?” 

Sean figured the best way to handle the situation was to just get it over with. Like ripping off a band-aid. 

Sue had said that before.

Sean smiled.

“Sean.” Ron stood up from his recliner and joined Nancy at the kitchen counter. 

“Mostly B’s. Two C’s.” Sean grimaced. 

“Excuse me?” Nancy raised an eyebrow.

“I know. I was pretty bummed about it. But it is what is. What can you do?” 

Ron fixed him with a stare. “There’s a heck of a lot you can do, Sean. Study. Get extra help. Do better.” 

“Well, did Sue find you at least?” Nancy sighed. “She went to go look for you after you were gone so long.” 

Sean chuckled. “Yeah. Yeah, she did.” 

“She is such a sweetheart. Always looking out for everyone.” 

Sean grinned widely. “Yeah, Suzy Q’s pretty special.” 

“So what are you going to do about your grades?” Ron interjected.

Sean shrugged. “As much as I can to improve them. I’ll do my best and then see what happens. Medical school’s hard, and I shouldn’t compare myself to anyone else who might find it easier.”

“Oh, my word.” Nancy breathed. “Ron, he’s going liberal on us again.” 

“Very funny, Mom.” He squeezed his mom in a bear hug and patted his dad on the shoulder. “Love you both. Merry Christmas.” 

He turned around and walked towards his bedroom.

“Ron!” Sean heard Nancy murmur nervously. “We threw out all his ponchos and beanies, right?”  

“Hey, Sean!” Dotty stood at his door, wearing her Christmas nightgown. “Shelly stole your gift from Sue at the Christmas Swap.” 

“Oh, she did, did she?” Sean pouted playfully. 

“Yep!” Shelly appeared next to Dotty in a matching snowflake pajama set. “It was a–” 

“That’s okay, Shelly. I’m glad you liked it. Sue already gave me another gift.” 

He hugged both girls affectionately, not missing their confused looks as he walked in his room and closed the door. 

He leaned against it.

_Best. Christmas. Ever._

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn’t resist writing this. I’m not even sorry about it.
> 
> There are so many things I want to know. Did the Hecks and Donahues try to find Sean and Sue when each family left for church? Did Sean and Sue go to church? Did they go together? Did they just make out the whole time while both families were at church? Did they talk about what was happening between them? 
> 
> So many details! I have a feeling the episode won’t pick up exactly after it left off, but in case more details are shared in the next episode, I wanted to be as minimal as possible with the guessing.


End file.
